420 Reminiscences of 



waters will again take on active life. Ehrenberg, a 

 celebrated German authority upon the subject, esti- 

 mates the reproductive capacity of a single one to ex- 

 ceed 200,000,000 in the space of a month. The variety 

 of the infusoria is extensive, more than a hundred 

 being classified. 



The Poligastrica and Rotatoria, two prominent 

 species of the infusoria, are white, pulpy substances, 

 some of which are of pinhead size. Through the 

 winter ice over a clear sandy bottom, with a thin 

 blanket head cover, which by no means excludes the 

 light, one obtains abundant opportunity to observe 

 that the white specks, at first mistaken for pollen 

 or other foreign intrusion, have a motion equal 

 to several inches in a short time, and can be ob- 

 served in the still water moving in various directions, 

 some apparently with a revolving motion, and others 

 without visible action. Many have advanced the spon- 

 taneity or protoplasm theory concerning the pro- 

 tozoa, which is a subject of much discussion, and 

 lately a prominent German savant has advanced the 

 theory that this element is the primitive origin of all 

 life — vegetable and animal — which now exists upon 

 the earth. A somewhat startling theory, but that life 

 must necessarily have started upon this once molten 

 mass in a very primitive form is clearly evident; but 

 how, may or may not be solved. 



Trout are not migratory in their habits, although in 

 exceptional instances when disappointed in love affairs 

 and driven away by successful rivals, or from a natural 

 excess of love adventure or physical disturbances, will 

 roam about, and oftentimes in such cases will take 

 extended departures; otherwise they will frequent the 



